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Simon Phipps's personal commentary

Book Fetish

I was roused from my slumbers yesterday by a FedEx delivery driver with a large, heavy parcel. Inside was a wonderful gift from a friend in America (who another very dear friend connected me to recently).

The gift in question is the huge, gothic magnificence of The Absolute Sandman, Volume 1. OK, I admit I already have the complete series of Neil Gaiman's unique series of graphic novels, but this book is something else. The first of four volumes, it collects the first 20 or so episodes in the series into a heavy, leather-bound and slip-cased library reference volume in a slip case. The stories themselves have been recoloured and opening it yesterday was a journey of rediscovery - yes, I'm reading it all again. The book is tall, wide, heavy, dark, substantial and screams to be on the selves of a dark library in a forbidding castle.

If you've not read any of the Sandman series, I'm not sure how I'd describe them to you. They are woven from threads of classical myth into a rich modern fabric of adult story - by no means a child's comic book. I believe they have plenty to offer the sort of people who read what I write and I'd recommend them to you. While the middle of the series has the best stories, you really do need to start at the beginning and work forwards.

So - totally lustworthy book - thank-you so much, John, I will treasure it.

Labels: Books, Sandman

posted at 12:29 PM (UK) | |